Man-powered water ski with the maximum portability and the maximum lateral balance

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides the maximum convenient portability with a 3 foldable method of the water ski hull, one half dividable shaft method of ski pole and a separable propulsion plate method from the ski pole, a push-pull method of rudder, and a separable method of the lateral balancing board from the hull, and also provides the maximum lateral balance effect of a skier by means of the lateral balancing board at the mid section, two side wings at the stern section, and a foot skid pad on each side of the mid section and a Velcro belt on each side holding each side instep of a skier over each side foot skid pad of the mid section of the ski hull.

PRIOR ART REFERENCES

-   -   1. U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,433, Water ski with propulsion Guide         Poles, Kie S. Lee, 1987.03.17 Said my name is an old one before         I obtained US Citizenship.     -   2. Korea Patent 89-00245, Kie S. Lee, Man-Powered Water ski with         Propulsion Guide Poles, 1989.07.10

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the methods to solve the problem of portability of the prior man-powered water ski and also to solve the problem of the lateral unbalance of said ski hull.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a new and improved model of the prior one that I obtained U.S. patent in the name of Water Ski with Propulsion Guide Poles and also obtained Korea Patent in the same contents of the invention. My prior invention comprised a single hull, a rudder at the stern bottom of the ski hull, and a pair of ski poles having propulsion medium on end part of each ski pole shaft. With only those said elements, a skier was prone to have hard time to balance himself laterally on the ski hull when riding the water ski. The long length of the ski hull caused the inconvenience of portability, which was not possible to put the ski hull in the car but also hard to carry it here and there. Due to those two defects of the lateral unbalance of the ski hull and its inconvenience of portability, I herein provide the present invention to solve said defects.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Problems to be Solved by the Invention

The object of the present invention is to provide the methods to solve two defects of my prior invention which had the inconvenient portability and the lateral unbalance of a skier on the deck of the ski hull when in use.

Means for Solving the Problem

To eliminate the said defect of lateral unbalance, the ski hull comprises a lateral balancing board, a lateral balancing wing at each side of the stern section, and a set of foot skid pad and instep Velcro belt of a skier each side on the deck of the mid section of a ski hull. And also to eliminate the defect of inconvenient portability of the ski hull and ski poles, the ski hull forms 3 sections foldable, a lateral balancing board removable, each auxiliary lateral balancing wing attachable to and extendable outward each side of stern section of the ski hull, and each ski pole shaft separable into three parts: two sections of the ski pole shaft and a propulsion medium like a plate.

The present invention comprises the bow section foldable on top of the mid section of ski hull by pivoting the connecting hinge on each side between the bow section and the mid section, the stern section foldable on the bottom of the mid section by pivoting the connecting hinge on each side between the stern section and the mid section, push-in and pull-out type of the lateral balancing board, a rudder push-able in its housing and pull-able out of it, a wing attachable to each side of the stern section, a set of the dividable ski poles at its each mid-point, and a set of the propulsion plates separable at endmost part of each pole. All of those said members of the ski embodiment can be compacted into a portable ski case. This way maximizes the convenient portability of a whole set of ski. The lateral balancing board stretched down at the mid section, the auxiliary lateral balancing wing extended outwardly each side of the stern section, and a set of foot skid pad and instep Velcro belt of a skier each side of the mid section deck maximizes the lateral balance of a ski hull.

Effect of the Invention

The present invention provides two maxima effects which are the most possible portability and the most possible lateral balance of a ski hull. The maximum effect of the portability is provided by each ski pole easily disarticulated, a lateral balancing board separated from the ski hull, a rudder pushed into its housing, each wing attached to each side of the hull, and a 3 layer folded ski hull, and those said elements packed into the portable ski case. This way makes a complete set of a water ski package, which can be carried anywhere by car, bicycle, motorcycle, and airplane. The maximum lateral balance effect of a skier on the deck of the hull is provided by stretching down the lateral balancing board, extending outwardly the auxiliary lateral balancing wing at each side of the hull, and standing on each foot skid pad at each side of the mid section deck and fastening skier's incept with Velcro belt when propelling the ski.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side perspective view of the ski hull divided into 3 sections, two auxiliary balancing wings attached to each side recess of the stern section, a lateral balancing board stretched down, a rudder pulled out, and ski poles in use by a skier.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the ski hull with two auxiliary lateral balancing wings extended outwardly each side of the stern section.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the ski hull.

FIG. 4A is a side elevation view of the ski hull folded in 3 sections.

FIG. 4B is a side perspective view of the ski hull packed into a portable ski case.

FIG. 5A is a top plan view of a foot skid pad and a Velcro belt of a skier's instep.

FIG. 5B is an open view of a rudder and its housing.

FIG. 6A is a perspective view of a lateral balancing board and an open (slot) part of the mid section of the ski hull.

FIG. 6B is a side elevation view of the lateral balancing board.

FIG. 7A is a side elevation view of an assembled ski pole.

FIG. 7B is a mid part view separated at mid-point of the ski pole.

FIG. 7C is a propulsion plate view separated at endmost part of the ski pole.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is described as follows by attaching the figures:

FIG. 1 shows that a skier on the mid deck of a ski hull 10 is propelling the ski with each ski pole holding respectively in each hand, by having stretched out 3 section hull 10 and fixed fore and aft a section adjacent to another section tightly each other, pulled down a lateral balancing board 22 from the mid section and a rudder from its housing of the stern section, and attached an auxiliary wing to each side recess of the hull. This invention comprises a ski hull 10 having 3 sections of bow section 11, mid section 12, and stern section 13, and a lateral balancing board 22, a rudder 28, and an auxiliary right wing 14 and another auxiliary left wing 15. The bow section 11 is connected to the mid section 12 by the rigid hinges 25, 26 on each side of both section decks and at the bottom of each side of said both sections are equipped with two rigid hooks to fix said both sections tightly. The mid section 12 is connected to the stern section 13 by the same type of hinges at the bottom of each side of both sections and on each side of both section decks are attached with Velcro cloth to fix both sections rigidly. The lateral balancing board 22 of the mid section 12 is pushed through an open slot 42 until a balancing board pin 58 stops at the recess 70 of the board case 71 in the mid section 12. The rudder 28 is pulled out from its housing of the stern section 13.

The auxiliary lateral balancing wings 14, 15 are attached to the recess of each side of the stern section when riding on the still or relatively low waved water surface and extended outwardly each side of the stern section 13 when riding in the relatively high wave. When extending outwardly the auxiliary lateral wings 14, 15 each side of the stern section 13, the right wing is fixed in parallel with the ski hull direction at endmost bar 18 by a rigid bolt 20 or other proper device and the wing supporting bar 18 is fixed at the starting point of the bar on the right end spot of the stern section 13 by a device having a rotating and fixing property: the left wing is fixed in the same way. The material for the ski hull and both wings is the same as used in the manufacture of the surfboards and as a material for the wing supporting bars is acceptable any stainless steel material.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the ski hull with two wings extended outwardly each side of the stern section. If the auxiliary wings 14,15 extended outwardly each side of the hull 10 when waves are relatively high with some wind, the ski hull 10 gains its lateral extension effect of the ski hull, which effect increases the lateral balance of the ski hull 10. Both auxiliary wings 14,15 are fixed on the supporting bars 18,19 by the rotating and fixing devices 16,17 designed particularly. The physical lateral length between both supporting bars when extended is determined in accordance with the rotation angle of the bars. When both bars are fixed at right angle to the ski hull 10, the physical length between the supporting bars is maximum, which provides maximum lateral balance effect. Two foot skid pad 32,32-1 preventing a skier's foot slip are on the each side of the mid deck and two Velcro belts 33,34 holding a skier's insteps are right over the foot skid pads 32,32-1. Although Velcro belts are holding a skier's both insteps, if the skier loses his or her lateral balance while riding the ski, the skier may fall into water. Right that moment, the skier's both feet can be free out of the belts 33,34. Though the ski hull 10 has a lateral balancing board 22, a skier may lose his or her lateral balance since the water surface 40 is unstable. In this event two foot skid pads and two Velcro belts are actually helpful for a skier to get his or her lateral balance back on the ski hull just before a skier's falling into water.

Two handles 35,36 fixed in each side of mid section of the ski hull are the convenient handholds for a skier to get back on the deck of the hull when the skier loses his or her balance on the deck and falls down into water out of the deck, and also are helpful for a skier to carry or move the ski hull here and there along the beach. The lateral balancing board is to push down through the top opening of the big slot 42—which has a passing-through channel from the deck of the mid section 12 to the bottom of the section—and pull down from its bottom opening of the mid section. A hole on each side of the mid section 12 is for thrusting and resting the endmost part of the ski pole in it when a skier is resting in the water or when leaving the ski hull on the beach.

FIG. 3 is an elevation view of FIG. 1. The ski hull 10 comprises 3 sections of a bow section 11, a mid section 12 and a stern section 13, two auxiliary wings 14,15, two wing supporting bars 18,19, a lateral balancing board 22, and a rudder 28. The end edge of the bow section deck and the front edge of the mid section deck are interconnected by a hinge 26 (other side hinge 25) at each side of the both section decks to fold the bow section over the mid section and by a hook 44 (other side hook 43) at each side of the both section bottoms to attach both section end edges tightly. The end edge of the mid section bottom and the front edge of the stern section bottom are interconnected by a hinge 45 (other side 46) at each side of both section bottoms to fold the stern section bottom over the mid section and by Velcro cloth pad 38 (other side 39) or by a hook 38 (other side 39) to attach both sections tightly. The manufacturing method of the ski hull and wings can be the same manufacturing method of surfboards or a rotational molding method, by which makes once prototypes of 3 sections of the hull respectively and then make a copy from each section of the prototype. In this way the production cost of the hull and wing decreases sharply.

When folding the bow section over the mid section of the hull, a skier first of all pulls off the lateral balancing board 22 from the mid deck 12 and releases a hook 44 (other side 43) off from the a hook assembly at the bottom of both sections and when folding the stern section bottom over the mid section bottom, the skier first pushes the rudder in its housing and pulls off a top Velcro cloth—hooks part—from the bottom part of the Velcro cloth on the both decks. In this way the whole ski hull is transformed into 3 layer folded hull.

A rotating and fixing assembly 16 (other side 17) of a wing supporting bar 18 (other side 19) is fixed on the end area of each side of the stern section and a endmost tip of the wing supporting bar 19 (other side 18) is fixed on the rotating and fixing assembly, and each auxiliary wing 14 (other side 15) is fixed beneath the wing supporting bars 18,19 by the attaching devices 20,21.

FIG. 4A is a side elevation view of the ski hull folded in 3 layer sections. It shows a hinge 25 (other side 26) interconnecting a bow section 11 and a mid section 12 and a hinge 45 (other side 46) interconnecting the mid section 12 and a stern section 13. It also shows an auxiliary wing 15 (other side 14) including a wing supporting bar 19 (other side 18), a rotating and fixing assembly 17 (other side 16), and a wing attaching device 20 (other side 21). The lateral balancing board and the rudder are not shown because the board 22 pulled off from the mid section and the rudder 28 was pushed in its housing.

FIG. 4B is a perspective view of the ski hull packed into a portable ski case 50 in which includes 3 fold layer sections, a lateral balancing board, rudder, and two ski poles disassembled. The material and the method to manufacture the potable ski case 50 are of the same ones as a common suitcase.

FIG. 5A is a top plan view of a foot skid pad and a Velcro belt holding a skier's instep. The foot skid pads 32,32-1 are put on each side of mid section deck and sandpapers are adaptable as their material. The Velcro belt 33 is a set of a hook part and a soft part to be hooked by the hook part, and the hook part is fixed at the left side of the food skid pad and the soft part is fixed at the right side of the foot skid pad on the mid section deck and then the two parts puts together tight over the skier's instep when riding the ski.

FIG. 5B is an open view of a rudder 28 and its housing 75 having both right and left plates—showing only the right side plate. The rudder and its housing are made of aluminum plate and other similar material and also other making methods are readily available. Two projecting parts 53,53-1 of the housing 75 are thick enough to accommodate a rudder and a pin 55 is fixed and projected on each side of the rudder 28 and is inserted to the pin hole on both right and left plates of the housing 75 and is pivoted in the pin holes. A sliding pin 54 is fixed and projected on each side of a rudder 28 and is sliding in the curved slots of both plates of the rudder housing 75. In this way a skier pushes the rudder 28 in the housing when not in use of the ski and pulls it out from the housing when in use of the ski.

FIG. 6A is a perspective view of a lateral balancing board 22 set in the board housing in the mid section 12 of the ski hull 10. The lateral balancing board is pushed down from the top slot of the housing and pulled out from the bottom slot of it. The board pivotal pin 58 is fixed and projected on both side of the board 22, and the pin 58 is rest in a recess 70 of each side plate of the housing 56. The projecting members 57, 57-1 are thick enough to accommodate the board 22. On account of a projecting member 57-1 being curved toward the stern section at its lower part and the top portion 60 of the board 22 being round, the board 22 is pivoted backward at the recess 70 by the pivotal pin 58, then the water friction of the board 22 decreases and it causes to increase a ski speed. The manufacturing method of the board 22 and its housing 56 is the same as in the rudder and its housing.

FIG. 6B is a side elevation view of the lateral balancing board 22. The top portion of the board 22 is round to move itself backward with an axis of the pivotal pin 58 at the recess 70 and the lower portion of the board 22 pivoted backward causes a ski to increase its speed due to the decrease of water friction of the board 22. The hole 59 at the top edge area of the board 22 is a handgrip hole to push and pull the board 22 through the slot 42 and provides convenience to carry the board.

FIG. 7A is a side elevation view of one of the ski poles. The ski pole 31 is light, rigid, hollow and floatable and is made of aluminum. The shape of the ski pole 31 is no difference than a common snow ski pole except disassembling it at its mid-point 61 and having a separable propulsion plate 62 at end part of the pole. The handhold 64 at the top part of the pole is rubber material and shaped for a good handgrip. The plate 62 is made of Melamine material or rigid plastic.

FIG. 7B is a separated view at mid spot 61 of the ski pole 31. The inserting part 66 of the pole 31 is pasted around with rubber tape and pushed in a adjoining part 61 which is big enough to be joined the inserting part 66.

FIG. 7C is a separated view of a propulsion plate 62 at endmost part of the ski pole 31. The inserting part 63 is pasted around with rubber tape and pushed in the hole of the propulsion plate 62. 

1. A ski hull dividable into 3 sections and 3 layer foldable, a ski pole dividable into 2 parts at the mid spot of the shaft, a propulsion medium like a plate separable from the shaft at its end part, two auxiliary lateral balancing wings adjustable and attachable at each side recess of the stern section of the ski hull, a rudder at the bottom of the stern section push-able into its housing, a lateral balancing board separable from the mid section, and a portable ski case packed with all the said elements of the ski embodiment provides the feature of the maximum convenient portability effect. The lateral balancing board fixed vertically at the bottom of the mid section of the ski hull increases the lateral balance of the ski hull, the auxiliary lateral balancing wings extended outwardly each side of the stern section increases more the lateral balance of the ski hull, and both foot skid pads and both instep Velcro belts located each side of the mid section deck of the ski hull increases most the lateral balance of the ski hull. Those said 3 methods of the lateral balance provide the maximum lateral balance effect of a ski hull.
 2. In the claim 1, the man-powered water ski with the feature increasing the lateral balance of the ski hull by the lateral balancing board.
 3. In the claim 1, the man-powered water ski with the feature increasing more the lateral balance of the ski hull by the extended auxiliary lateral balancing wings.
 4. In the claim 1, the man-powered water ski with the feature increasing most the lateral balance of the ski hull by the foot skid pads and the instep Velcro belts.
 5. In the claim 1, the man-powered water ski with the feature increasing the speed of the ski by reducing water friction of the lateral balancing board due to inclining backward of the said board as a skier thrusts the ski forward. 